There are a large number of wineries within the Barossa region, and these include Peter Lehmann, Schild Estate, Henschke, Wolf Blass, Glaetzer, Langmeil, St Hallett, Whistler, Turkey Flat and Torbreck. Some of these wineries are now commercially owned by large corporations, and some remain run as family businesses.

Probably the most well known wine produced in the Barossa is the Penfolds “Grange”. The Penfolds “Grange”, originally made as an experiment vintage in 1951 by local winemaker Max Schubert has won over 50 internationally acclaimed Gold wine awards. The “Grange” is most notable for its quality to age well, and is highly respected collectors item. In 2004 one of these 1951 vintage bottles sold at auction for just over AUS$50,000.

Barossa Valley’s wine industry draws many tourists to the area each year. There are a number of cultural festivals and events which celebrate this rich wine growing history. The most notable of these is the Vintage Festival, which occurs every second year. This Vintage Festival is held in April and is a celebration of the season’s vintage. One highlight of the Vintage Festival is the Vintage Ball.

The Barossa Valley’s wine making industry is an important aspect of the region, and its close ties with its German heritage is still very evident today.

Post from: Sterling Silver Goblet

Barossa Valley Wines

The famous Barossa wine region is a little over an hour by car north of Adelaide, South Australia’s capital. Something that surprises many people is that the Barossa actually encompasses two regions – the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley.

Stretching all the way from Williamstown in the South all the way up to Kapunda in the north, the Barossa Vally covers quite  a sizable area of land. The red-brown soils are more fertile than those of the Eden Valley but rainfall here can be up to 50% less.  The temperatures in the Barossa are usually 2ºC warmer than the surrounding regions.

Eden Valley includes the country from Truro in the north through to Mount Pleasant in the south. This region averages for 400 to 600 metres abouve sea level with the wine growing areas being situated in the higher sections of land. Eden Valley has much rockier, acidic soil than the Barossa Valley and also enjoys about 255mm more rainfall every year. The cooler temperatures in this region means that growing seasons are generally longer.

So how does this affect the wine from these regions? Well to put it simply, these are great growing conditions.

There are about 550 growers in the Barossa, some of them sixth-generation Barossans.  The total harvest each season adds up to a whopping 55,000 tonnes of grapes which has been grown over 8,000 hectares of land.
A unique aspect about the Barossa is that it has managed to avoid phylloxera This means that many vineyards still thrive on their own root stocks, distinguishing the Barosssa as a wine-growing region with some of the world’s oldest vines.

The Barossa rings true to the idea of quality over quantity with the fruit produced there being the premium of Australian produce, but representing only 5% of the national crush. The constant premium quality of wines produced in the Barossa makes them Australia's most internationally influential regions with a large number of Barossa wines being categorized in the super-premium class.

No wonder Barossa Shiraz is revered around the world.

Follow the link for more information on Barossa Shiraz .

Post from: Sterling Silver Goblet

Why is Barossa Shiraz so Special?